Nicaragua News Service Published by the Nicaragua Network Education Fund April 14 - 20, 1996 Vol. 4, No. 15 Major news stories for the week: 1. Survey puts FSLN ahead in Leon. 2. Total FSLN support for Carlos Guadamuz. 3. Crisis affects even "Miss Nicaragua" 4. Attack on illegal aliens. 5. Non-FSLN vice-presidential candidate probable. 6. Students reject probable 6% veto. 7. BCIE withholds disbursements. 8. Russia to pardon 98% of Nicaragua's debt. 9. BANIC to be partially privatized to foreign banks. _______________________________________________________________________ 1. Survey puts FSLN ahead in Leon. A recent opinion poll in the department of Leon, done by the Center for Investigations in Communication (CINCO) revealed that the FSLN has a 12 point lead over the Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC) in that geographical area. If the elections were held today, 23.4% of those surveyed stated that they would vote for Daniel Ortega while 17.3% would vote for Arnoldo Aleman. (Barricada, April 16) 2. Total FSLN support for Carlos Guadamuz. The FSLN candidate for mayor of Managua, Carlos Guadamuz, met last week with most of the FSLN National Directorate and with the ex-FSLN mayor Managua, Samuel Santos, in a meeting in which the participants gave their total support for Guadamuz's candidacy in the coming October elections. Guadamuz stated that the first thing that he would do as mayor would be to meet with the new president, of whichever party, in order to work together without confrontation with the executive branch for the development of Managua. According to a survey done by a local firm, M & R, Guadamuz is tied for the post of mayor with an independent candidate, Pedro Solorzano, and is 7 points ahead of the PLC candidate, Roberto Cedeno. Meanwhile, the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS) confirmed that it will support the candidacy of Herty Lewites, who running as an independent for the mayorship of Managua. Lewites was the Minister of Tourism under the Sandinista government. (Barricada, April 16, 19) 3. Crisis affects even "Miss Nicaragua." The Miss Nicaragua competition, which was held at the end of last week, was almost a non-event given that the 14 competitors threatened to go on strike because of the lack of organization for the event. The newspaper Barricada referred to the event as the election of Miss Cinderella. The event is being sponsored by private industries especially hotels, restaurants, airlines and clothing stores, who have donated even the underwear that the contestants will wear. Former Miss Nicaraguas have complained about the lack of support that they have received although they agree that the competitions help improve Nicaragua's image throughout the world and promote tourism. The Ministry of Tourism complained that they could not promote the participation of young women from outside Managua because the regional offices of that Ministry were closed this year due to lack of budget. Finally, to the relief at least of the 900 people that attended the event in the luxurious Camino Real Hotel in Managua, a new Nicaraguan beauty queen was crowned and it was announced that she would participate in the Miss Universe contest to be held in May in Las Vegas. (Barricada, April 20) 4. Attack on illegal aliens. National police are investigating the participation of local police authorities in the death of one Ecuadorian citizen and the wounding of five other South Americans in an incident on the Nicaraguan-Honduran border north of the city of Chinandega. Local police say that it was a group of national policemen from Managua who fired on the group in an incident that has resulted in 29 people jailed, most of them from Peru. National police were in the zone, working on blockades to try to reduce the amount of contraband coming in from Honduras. 5. Non-FSLN vice-presidential candidate probable. The Sandinista Assembly (AS) met in Managua on Sunday April 14th to discuss the methodology for listing candidates for the October elections that would respect the 30% and 15% quotas for women and youth that were decided upon last year. The formation of political alliances was also on the agenda. It was decided that at the Party Congress (May 4-5), in the case of the candidates for the Central American Parliament and for the 20 nationally-elected seats in the National Assembly, delegates will vote for a maximum of ten men and ten women from each of two separate lists. The candidate who wins the most votes will head the FSLN slate and the rest of the list will be made up from the next highest vote-getters, alternating men and women. At least two young people must be among the top ten on the slate. The Sandinista Assembly also reiterated its support for political alliances to help win a victory in October and to assist in the formation of a government of national unity. The vice-presidential nomination will be offered to someone from another political party in order to cement the alliance. It was decided to prioritize the candidacy of someone from the productive sector of the economy. The National Directorate was given the mandate to explore possible alliances but at the same time, each candidate for the Presidential nomination was asked to select his or her candidate for vice-president and present that slate at the Party Congress. Departmental and municipal party organizations will be able to make local alliances where appropriate. Sandinista Assembly members also decided that the National Directorate should prepare and present to the Sandinista Assembly a proposal to offer to other "sectors, forces, political parties and honest, qualified individuals" cabinet positions in a new government of national unity. According to Monica Baltodano, member of the National Directorate of the FSLN, the candidate for vice-president on the FSLN slate should be someone who is not a member of the party given the need to get other votes. Because of "our commitment to raise production levels," she said that the vice-presidential candidate should be a farmer. She also stated that the candidate for President for the FSLN will be Daniel Ortega, since the majority of the members of the party support him. With the candidacy of Daniel, the FSLN can count on 25% of the national vote, but needs another 20% to ensure a national victory. Baltodano stated that Rev. Miguel Angel Casco, who won the FSLN primaries for the vice-presidency (being the only formal candidate) is a highly-regarded militant of the party, "but we need to go out of our membership in order to win the election, because if we don't, the right will feel even stronger and will continue to advance against the poor especially in the north of the country, where the situation is terrible." (Barricada, April 15, 17) 6. Students reject probable 6% veto. The bill that would force the government to give Nicaragua's universities 6% of the nation's budget, including the total sum of foreign cooperation, was, late last week, still sitting on the desk of the Secretary of the National Assembly,. Jaime Bonilla, who is at present out of the country. By this week the bill will be on the desk of the President. Ten thousand students, however, marched in front of the president's office last week to demand that the she sign the new bill into law. Meanwhile, the U.S. ambassador stated that the U.S. would not allow 6% of its foreign assistance to Nicaragua to be used for the financing of the universities. (Barricada, April 19) 7. BCIE withholds disbursements. The president of the Central American Integration Bank, Dr. Jose Pacas, warned last week that as long as Nicaragua is behind in payments to that multilateral lending institution, BCIE will withhold new disbursements on already-approved projects. Nicaragua owes over $65 million in back payments to the BCIE which has meant that the Bank has withheld over $80 million in project money, funds destined for projects in the areas of coffee renovation, cattle raising and housing construction. A technical commission from the Bank is working with the Nicaraguan government to try and find a solution to the problem but the declarations of the Bank's president made it clear that Nicaragua would not receive special treatment. "We can not give as a gift money that is not ours," stated Pacas, referring to the obligations that BCIE has to its members. (La Prensa, April 19) 8. Russia to pardon 98% of Nicaragua's debt. Debt negotiations between Nicaragua and Russia concluded last week with a tentative agreement which must be ratified by the governments of both countries. According to the agreement, Russia will reduce the $3.3 billion debt by over 98%, which would bring Nicaragua's total debt down to approximately 9 billion dollars, still one of the highest per capita debts in the world. The multi-billion dollar debt with Nicaragua had been contracted with the now-extinct Soviet Union. (Barricada, April 20) 9. BANIC to be partially sold to foreign banks. 54% of the stock of the state-owned Banco Nicaraguense (BANIC) will be put up for sale to foreign investors, according to the president of the BANIC board of directors, Banjamin Lanzas. Lanzas declared that the opening-up of state banks to foreign banks will pressure national banks, both private and public, to reduce local interest rates to an average of 10 to 12% (from 16-25%) because the international banks will have access to funds at a cost of only 5 to 6%. Local investors will also have access to BANIC stock via the recently formed Nicaraguan stock market according to Lanzas, who is also a candidate for the vice-presidency for the PRONAL party. It is expected that the National Assembly will intervene in the "capitalization-privatization" of BANIC because, according to Nicaraguan law, all privatizations of state property must be approved by the legislative body. (La Prensa, April 20)